Intrusive thought facts for kids

An intrusive thought is an unwanted thought, image, or idea that pops into your mind. These thoughts are often upsetting or distressing. They can feel hard to control or get rid of.

Sometimes, these thoughts are linked to conditions like obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) or Tourettes syndrome (TS). When this happens, the thoughts might become very strong. They can make a person feel stuck, worried, or just keep coming back. Intrusive thoughts can also be part of anxiety disorders or post-traumatic stress disorder. They are often about things that seem wrong or out of place. This might include aggressive or religious ideas.

What are Intrusive Thoughts?

Common Experiences

Many people have negative or uncomfortable thoughts from time to time. Most people can just let these thoughts go. For most, intrusive thoughts are a quick, annoying moment. A study with healthy college students found that almost everyone had these thoughts sometimes. So, these thoughts are a normal part of being human.

When intrusive thoughts happen with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), it's different. People with OCD find it harder to ignore these upsetting thoughts. They might pay too much attention to them. This can make the thoughts happen more often and feel even worse. Trying to push these thoughts away often makes them stronger. The thoughts can become obsessions that are very hard to deal with. They might involve topics like violence or religious ideas. Unlike normal intrusive thoughts, those linked to OCD can cause a lot of worry. They can also feel impossible to stop.

How people react to intrusive thoughts can decide if they become a big problem. Intrusive thoughts can happen with or without compulsions. A compulsion is an action someone does to feel better. Doing the compulsion might reduce worry for a moment. But it makes the urge to do it stronger next time. This makes the intrusive thoughts worse. Accepting bad thoughts, instead of fighting them, can help. Studies show that people who accept these thoughts feel less discomfort.

It is very rare for people to act on their intrusive thoughts. People who feel a lot of guilt, worry, or shame about these thoughts are usually not dangerous. They are very different from people who actually act on bad thoughts. If someone is not bothered by their thoughts, or finds them pleasant, it could be a sign of a more serious issue. Also, if someone hears voices or feels uncontrollable anger, they should seek help.

Aggressive Thoughts

Intrusive thoughts can sometimes be violent. They might be about hurting others or oneself. These thoughts can be part of a type of OCD called "pure O." Examples include thoughts about harming a child. Or urges to jump from a high place. A study found that many healthy college students had such thoughts. This included thoughts about:

• Harming older people.
• Wishing harm on someone close to them.
• Urges to attack or hurt a person or animal.
• Urges to say rude or violent things.

These thoughts are a normal part of being human. They do not have to ruin your life. Help is available if these thoughts are linked to OCD. This is true if they become constant, severe, or very upsetting.

One example of an aggressive intrusive thought is the high place phenomenon. This is a sudden urge to jump from a high place. Studies show that over half of college students have felt this urge at least once. This feeling is more common in people who worry a lot. It might happen because your brain misinterprets a safety signal.

Religious Thoughts

Thoughts that go against religious beliefs, called blasphemous thoughts, are common in OCD. Famous religious figures like Martin Luther had these thoughts. Martin Luther had urges to curse God. He was bothered by images of "the Devil's behind." Another example is St. Ignatius. He worried about stepping on straw that looked like a cross. He feared it showed disrespect to Christ.

A study of people with OCD found that many had religious or blasphemous thoughts. These thoughts can be more common in certain cultures. They might also be more common in men than women.

According to a psychologist named Fred Penzel, common religious intrusive thoughts include:

• Bad thoughts about God or religious figures.
• Bad thoughts or images during prayer.
• Thoughts of being possessed.
• Fears of sinning or breaking a religious rule.
• Fears of saying prayers wrong.
• Repeated blasphemous thoughts.
• Urges to say or do blasphemous things during religious services.

These thoughts can cause a lot of pain. Treatment can be harder when thoughts involve religious ideas. People might think the thoughts come from evil. They might fear punishment from God. This can cause more shame. Symptoms can be more upsetting for people with strong religious beliefs.

Some experts believe blasphemous thoughts are more common in certain religions. This might be because what is considered "wrong" changes between cultures and faiths. Intrusive thoughts often torment people with what their culture finds most inappropriate.

How Age Affects Intrusive Thoughts

Intrusive thoughts happen to people of all ages. However, younger adults (under 40) might find them harder to handle. They may have less experience coping with these thoughts. Also, young adults often face unique life stresses. These stresses can make intrusive thoughts feel even worse.

Middle-aged adults (40-60) are most likely to have OCD. This means they might be more prone to worry from intrusive thoughts. They also deal with stresses from both younger and older adulthood. Even so, middle-aged adults are often better at coping than younger adults. Older adults tend to see intrusive thoughts as a memory slip. Younger adults might see them as a moral failing. Older adults might find it harder to stop these thoughts. This can lead to more stress for them.

Overall, intrusive thoughts seem to occur at the same rate throughout life. But older adults often feel less negative impact. They have more experience ignoring or reducing strong negative reactions to stress.

Related Conditions

Intrusive thoughts are often linked to OCD or OCPD. But they can also happen with other conditions. These include post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), clinical depression, and generalized anxiety disorder. One of these conditions is almost always present if intrusive thoughts become very severe.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

The main difference between OCD and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the content of the thoughts. In PTSD, intrusive thoughts are about real traumatic events that happened. In OCD, the thoughts are about imagined bad things. People with PTSD who have intrusive thoughts need to sort out violent or religious thoughts from memories of their trauma. If treatment doesn't work, doctors might suspect past abuse.

Studies show that intrusive thoughts can be more persistent for women with PTSD. This happens when they try to avoid the thoughts. This means that not all coping methods help reduce how often intrusive thoughts appear.

Depression

People with clinical depression might feel intrusive thoughts more strongly. They might see these thoughts as proof that they are worthless or bad.

About 60% of people with depression also have physical, visual, or auditory feelings with their intrusive thoughts. Having these sensations is linked to more intense depression symptoms. It also means they might need more treatment.

Postpartum Depression and OCD

It is common for new mothers to have unwanted thoughts about harming their babies. This can happen with postpartum depression. A study in 1999 found that the most common aggressive thought for women with postpartum depression was harming their newborn. Another study found that 89% of new parents had intrusive images. These included thoughts of the baby suffocating or being harmed.

Some women might develop OCD symptoms during pregnancy or after giving birth. This is called postpartum OCD. It mainly affects women who might already have OCD, even if it's mild. Postpartum depression and OCD often happen together. Doctors might focus on depression symptoms. But one study found that upsetting thoughts were present in 57% of new mothers with postpartum depression.

Experts believe many new mothers might develop these upsetting thoughts about their babies. They might be afraid to share these thoughts with doctors or family. They might suffer in silence, fearing they are "crazy." This can make their depression worse.

Fears of harming children can last longer than the postpartum period. A study found that 41% of depressed women had obsessive fears of harming their child. Some were even afraid to care for their children. Even among non-depressed mothers, 7% had thoughts of harming their child.

How to Get Help

Treatment for intrusive thoughts is similar to treatment for OCD. Exposure therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy are often helpful.

Exposure Therapy

Exposure therapy is a common treatment for intrusive thoughts. It means facing your fears to reduce them. When you have bad thoughts, your first reaction might be to do something to make the feelings go away. This might be a ritual or compulsion. But doing this actually makes the bad feelings stronger over time. Your mind learns that doing the ritual helps avoid the bad feeling. When OCD is severe, this makes the thoughts worse.

Exposure therapy means staying in a situation that causes worry or fear. You stay until the worry goes down. The goal is to learn not to react to the bad thoughts. This is the best way to reduce how often and how strongly intrusive thoughts appear. You try to expose yourself to the thing that triggers your fear for one to two hours. You do this without leaving or distracting yourself. Exposure therapy won't make intrusive thoughts disappear completely. Everyone has them. But most people find it helps enough so the thoughts don't interfere with their lives anymore.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is another type of therapy. It helps people identify and manage unwanted thoughts. One strategy used in CBT is mindfulness exercises. This means being aware of your thoughts. You accept them without judging yourself. You learn to see yourself as bigger than your thoughts.

Medication

For more severe cases, doctors might prescribe Antidepressants or antipsychotic medications. This happens if therapy alone doesn't work. The most common medications are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) drugs. These are a type of antidepressant. They are used whether the thoughts are caused by OCD, depression, or PTSD.

If SSRIs don't help, other medications might be used. These include risperidone, ziprasidone, and haloperidol. Some studies also suggest that inositol might help with obsessive thoughts.

How Common Are Intrusive Thoughts?

A study in 2007 found that 78% of people with OCD had intrusive images. Many people with intrusive thoughts don't know they have OCD. This is because they might not have classic symptoms like handwashing. But studies show that intrusive thoughts are the most common type of OCD worldwide. If all people in the United States with intrusive thoughts gathered, they would form a very large city.

OCD affects at least 2% of people in every culture studied. Most of these people have only obsessions, or bad thoughts. This means over 2 million people in the United States alone have intrusive thoughts.

See also

• Existentialism § Angst and dread
• Internal monologue
• The Imp of the Perverse
• Shoulder angel
• Tourette syndrome
• Earworm